Agent Maria
by Cecily Plum
Summary: How could Fury do this to her? He knows how she feels about 'Superheroes'. Maria-centric post-Avengers AU of randomness from the black hole I call a brain. Captain Hill, Thane, Pepperony, Bretty, DarcyxIan, one-sided Clintasha. T because assassins and my mouth can be worse than Tony's. Occasionally about Steve, because Captain Hill. *On hold until the plot bunnies attack*
1. Superhero Babysitter

**Brand new fic, based around Maria Hill, set in an AU.**

**Disclaimer: What sane person puts a teenage girl in charge of marvel. No kind of sane person, that's who. *sulk***

Why did Fury have to delegate this to her. He knew how she felt about the Avengers. When the notification had come through on her StarkPad this morning, she had thought it had been someone's twisted idea of a joke. They were Phil's team, not hers. Sure, she knew that they weren't supposed to know that he was alive, and sure, Fury was going to give him a whole new team so that he could groom him for director, but it was still unfair. He knew how she felt about Superheroes, and now she was going to become babysitter to four of them, as well as two highly trained assassins. Now, she was standing at the foot of the newly re-christened Avengers tower. As she walked into the lobby, the first thing she noticed was how clean everything looked. Sure, it had been a month since the battle of New York, but she hadn't expected things to be this clean. She walked over to a small lift in the corner of the lobby, and stopped to request JARVIS let her in. However, before she could utter a word, Stark's snarky AI spoke up.

"Ice Princess, we've been expecting you," with his British accent he sounded like a cheesy villain from an old black and white film, "if you would be kind enough to step up to the retina scanner, and place your hand on the palm-scan, I can upload your biometric data to my system, and you can go and argue with Mr Stark." His last comment caused one edge of her lips to quirk up into an almost smile, as she did as he, it, had advised. Once the scans had been completed, the doors to the lift slid open, and she stepped inside. She leaned over, and pressed the button for the living room/conference area where she was supposed to be meeting the Avengers.

As she stood in the lift waiting for it to reach the correct floor, watching the numbers counting up on the small display above the door. Then, with ten floors left to go until she reached the correct floor, the lift came to a halt, and the doors slid open to reveal the super-soldier, Captain America, Phil's idol. He looked slightly surprised that there was another person already in the lift, and, after a moment of hesitation, he stepped in. They rode side-by-side up to the floor, each being quiet, waiting patiently to arrive at their destination. Then, suddenly, the lift jerked to a halt, warning lights flashing. Stunned, it took her a moment to remember to ask JARVIS.

"JARVIS, what's going on?"

"The power has been cut, and the back-up generator was damaged in the renovations, and has not been fixed yet. You are stuck between floors, so you cannot be accessed, and will have to wait for the power to be turned on again"

The words took a moment to sink in. She was stuck. In a lift. With Captain America.


	2. The Lift (Elevator)

**Part number two. Don't own anything but the story line.**

**Basically, first signs of Captain Hill. Suggestive in places. Changes to Steve's POV half way through. Enjoy.**

She was stuck. In a lift. With Captain America. For most women her age, it would be a dream come true to be stuck in a lift with him, hell, even some men her age, but not for her. That didn't mean she couldn't appreciate what was right in front of her, she wasn't blind. She could see what the super soldier serum had done to his body. She just didn't like the fact that he was, in fact, a super soldier, a superhero. And she didn't like superheroes, especially not Fury's pets. That didn't change the fact that she was stuck in a lift with him. She allowed her self to look at him. He really was quite handsome, if you liked that blonde haired, blue eyed all American boy look, which she found she kind of did, despite her Canadian blood. As her eyes ran up his tall, muscular form, resting momentarily on the biceps bulging, shoulders straining against his tight white work out shirt, up to his face. When she looked at his face, she realised she had been caught staring, and looked away quickly as he tried to catch her gaze, her cheeks on fire. Just because she appreciated his appearance didn't mean she wanted anyone else to know that. She had a reputation to uphold.

CAPTAINHILLCAPTAINHILLCAPTAINHILLCAPTAINHILLCAPTAINHILLCAPTAINHILL

He was trapped in a lift. With Fury's right hand woman. When he had first seen her on the bridge, he had been surprised for a moment, before remembering how different things were now compared to back in his day and age. Her uniform was yet more evidence of that. Not that the skin tight leather didn't suit her, rather that it suited her all to well, he was a hot-blooded male after all. He wasn't an idiot just because he was from the 40s, despite what Stark thought. Any hopes he might have had of talking to her, however, were dashed the moment she looked at him, the disdain evident on her face. He once asked an Agent why that was, and the agent's reply had simply been that she thought superheroes were a waste of time and resources. Being stuck in a lift with her brought back all of the thoughts he had tried to suppress. Stark had called her the Ice Princess, and he knew that wasn't without reason, but that didn't stop him from appreciating a beautiful woman when he saw one. The smooth curves of her shapely legs, her slightly rounded but, her slender arms, the smooth curve of her hips, the curve of the breasts against her uniform, her slender yet strong neck. Dark brown waves tied firmly in place at the back of her head. Her steely blue eyes looking at his face, before she averted her gaze quickly, a rosy blush dusting her cheeks, making her look all the more beautiful. He hadn't been the only one looking, he realised. The thought brought a small smile to his lips. Then, the lift jerked back to life, ascending to the Avengers living room.

As soon as the doors were open, she swept out, leaving him behind, appreciating the view for a moment, before he came to his senses, and followed her down the corridor, just before the doors closed.


	3. The Meeting

**I am tired, I apologise for nothing.**

**Disclaimer: Yes, I own marvel and live in luxury... somewhere in an alternate universe. In this universe, I own exactly nada. I will now go and cry on my sofa.**

Maria stalked into the meeting room in Stark tower just as the blush faded from her cheeks. She was already in a bad mood because of the lift incident, and dealing with Stark was the last thing she needed right now. She walked up to the group of Avengers gathered around the table in the middle. Stark was leaning against the bar, a glass of scotch in his hand, Banner was in a plushy arm chair, a new addition to the recently renovated space, Romanoff was sitting on the sofa, leaning forward, anything but relaxed. It took her a moment to find Barton, hidden in a shadowed corner, up on a perch which appeared purpose-built for his use. Stark was looking at her with an expression akin to annoyance or boredom on his face, but which quickly changed to a smirk when he looked over her shoulder.

"Capsicle, Ice Princess, I didn't realise you two were in the lift together. I should have told JARVIS to leave you there for a while. Your edges might have softened a bit, but you are both ice, so I don't know how that would work." She had the sudden urge to slap him, to wipe that smirk off of his face. The Captain walked around her, and sat down of the sofa opposite Romanoff. "We heard you were going to be our new babysitter, and we would really appreciate it if Fury would keep his left eye out of our business." Then there was a rustling from the corridor below Barton, before Pepper Potts swept into view.

"Sorry I'm late everyone. Hello Agent Hill," the strawberry blonde gave a nod in her direction, which Maria returned, "I was just seeing to the finishing touches to your apartment, agent." Maria gave a surprised look in her direction. She had a place on base, and, admittedly, the tower was on the other side of Manhattan, but still. The commute wasn't that far. She most certainly wasn't expecting an apartment.

"That is very kind of you, but I still have to fulfil my role as assistant director," along with Jasper, Victoria and Felix, "so I won't be staying here that often, an apartment for myself is wholly unnecessary..."

"Nonsense, we have plenty of room, I don't see why you can't have some. You are the SHIELD liaison after all. If you would follow me, I will take you there myself. I'm sure your time is far to precious to be wasting here getting nowhere." There, Ms Potts swept out of the room before Maria could protest, leaving her no option but to follow her out, trying to ignore the feeling of eyes on her back. When she sneaked a glance back, she saw that the assassins and Banner had disappeared, but Stark was watching the Captain. It had been the Captain's eyes she had felt, she realised, as she watched him stare resolutely at the floor, ears tinged red, before she rounded the corner out of sight.


	4. Salt and Pepper

**Really short, but I am really tired. I apologise for the lack of Captain Hill in this one, but this chapter keeps the story going and fills in whilst Ry to think of something for them to do. Hope it isn't too dull.**

**Disclaimer:I have a blackhole for a brain, how exactly would I run the fantabulous, complex and enormous empire that is Marvel.**

As Pepper walked briskly down the maze of corridors within the tower, Maria couldn't help but feel a little amazed at how clean and elegant and organised everything was, so soon after the attack, clean white lines contrasting red carpets and gold light fixtures. Everything reflecting the Iron Man suit worn by the vain owner, of course. Soon, the reached some stairs, and started to descend to the floor below. Before Maria could ask about the rather low-tech form of transport, Ms Potts piped up.

"As you found on your way up, the lifts can be a little temperamental, so I made Tony install stairs just in case, and they are currently seeing a lot more use than the lifts. By the way, things are very informal when we're not battling aliens, so please feel free to call me Pepper, Agent Hill."

"Please, Pepper, call me Maria," Maria said.

"Of course, Maria,". The strawberry blonde then came to an abrupt halt. "Here we are, your apartment." Maria could have kicked herself. She had been so busy looking at her surroundings and listening to Pepper that she hadn't realised they had arrived on the accommodation part of the tower. "Steve is just next door, with Natasha on the other side. Clint is opposite, and Banner next to him. Beyond Banner are Thor's quarters, but those have yet to be used. At the end are a couple of guest rooms, but most of the guest space is on the floor below. Your apartment is coded to your biometric data, but you can ask JARVIS to add that of any other people you want to give access. You have a sitting area, bedroom, en-suite and a small kitchen, but you are welcome to use the communal kitchen upstairs if you wish, everyone else does. If you need any help, just ask JARVIS. I will see you at dinner, which we have at about 18:00. I will leave you to settle in. Good bye." And with that, the speed-talking Pepper was off. Maria watched her go, thinking how different Pepper was to Natasha, the only other woman. They were almost like Pepper and Salt.

The analogy brought a small smile to her lips, as she laid her hand against the fingerprint scanner, and leaned forward to have her eye-ball examined. Once the simple, ice blue door (no prizes for guessing who chose the colour) opened, she stepped into her new home, and was lost for words. The carpet was a stormy gray, and deep pile, so thick and soft. The navy blue sofa had cushions edged with black. Her kitchen was sleek, black marble, with chrome finishes. Her bathroom had marbled white floor tiles, but was painted a deep navy. Her bedroom was done in the same way as the living room, but had a large window on one wall, letting in the light, allowing her a view of Manhattan she used to dream of. On either side of the window were giant, flowing black velvet curtains, with silver trim. It was beautiful. A dream.


	5. Relaxing

**As promised, Captain Hill, but know I really need sleep, so goodnight.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned marvel, Captain Hill would have happened already. As that has not happened, what are the chances of me owning marvel.**

Once Maria had gotten over the luxury of her new apartment, she decided to clean up before dinner, as she hadn't had the time that morning, between reports, and arguing with Fury. As it was only 14:30, she decided to relax with a lovely long bath. She went to the bathroom, and started to run herself a lovely, warm bath. Only once she had undressed and slipped in, did she realise how tense she was. She could feel all of her muscles relax as she let her body soak, the warm water soothing the tension she carried in her shoulders. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt at peace, calm, safe. It didn't take long after that for her to fall asleep.

As she slept, she dreamt of being an ordinary girl, without a care in the world. A girl who could wear her heart on her sleeve, and could dance around in a meadow, the autumn leaves swirling around, with a tall, blonde, muscular man who looked curiously like Steve.

When she awoke, she was slightly groggy. In her semi-conscious state, it took her a few minutes to remember where she was. She was in a large enamelled bath, in the en-suite in her apartment in the Avengers' tower. The water was now starting to get a little chilly. She slowly got up, unused to how relaxed and loose all of her muscles felt. She got dressed in her uniform which she had been wearing before, not having brought any other clothes with her, taking her time to dry herself off. It wasn't until she checked her watch that she realised why the water had been cold. 17:55. It was five to six. She had been in the bath for over three hours. No wonder she was so relaxed. Then, suddenly, she remembered. Dinner. She was supposed to be having dinner with the Avengers in five minutes. She hasten to the door of her apartment and swung it open, not looking where she was going, and stepped out. Right into a broad, solid chest. She looked up, hoping praying, that it was anyone other than... Captain Rogers. She tried to keep the blush away from her face, barely succeeding.

"Captain Rogers, I was not expecting to see you here." The super soldier looked a little abashed.

"Please, call me Steve," he said, looking up to meet her eyes with his baby-blues, "I was just coming to see if you wanted dinner, I didn't know of Pepper had told you when we normally ate, Agent Hill." His gaze was penetrating her, and Maria had to look away as she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. "I was just wondering if you would like me to show you the way, it is quite the maze."

"If I am to call you Steve, then you must call me Maria," she replied smiling, and... dear Lord, was she flirting with Steve, with Captain America! What was wrong with her, she had to snap out of it, she internally reprimanded herself, trying her hardest to keep all signs of her internal conflict off of her face, "and yes, that would be most useful Steve, I am really not sure where to go." He proffered his arm for her to take, but after a sceptical look from her, he lowered it again, seemingly remembering how the times had changed. That didn't stop him from holding the doors open for her as they walked to dinner in comfortable silence.


	6. Dinner With The Avengers And Co

**In which Tony is an arsehole, Clint is a hawk, and Bruce gets a headache.**

**I have nothing against Tony, in fact I think he's awesome, but he is just a lot of an arsehole, most of the time.**

**Disclaimer: I am British, Marvel is a primarily American company, based in corporate America. You do the geography.**

**Also, Natasha does speak in this, just let your imagination flow with what her and Clint are saying.**

When Maria got to the dining area she realised with some surprise that it was the same area where the meeting had been held. Now, however, there was a metal table in the middle, covered in a delicate, blue and silver lace table cloth. Bruce brought out dishes of steaming food for them to help themselves to just as she and Steve sat down.

Dinner went as well as could be expected, all things considered. Barton tried to start conversation with Maria, they had been colleagues for over a decade, but soon shut up when he realised she didn't want to talk. Romanoff was as indifferent as always, but made small talk with Barton after Maria ignored him. Stark and Pepper were bickering, most likely about Maria's residence in the tower, being studiously ignored by Banner, who was shoving forkfuls of food into his mouth.

But the one Maria noticed most was Steve. He was eating, sure, but he was also listening, alert. A soldier even when there is no immediate threat. This intrigued her, as she had never really seen him as anything more than a superhero, never really thought about why he had tried to join the army so many times, never considered the soldier behind the serum. Then, as though sensing her attention, he turned his head and looked at her, eyes catching hers. She was mesmerised for a moment by the depth behind his baby blues. The anguish of someone who had seen to much hidden behind a thin veil of warmth. The crinkles at the corners when he smiled. Suddenly, she was jerked back to reality, and turned to look at her food, paying far too much attention to her plate, as the heat rose in her cheeks. She had been caught staring. She dared to glimpse up, but quickly averted her gaze once again. He was still looking at her, his gaze searching and studious, as though she were a fine piece of art, which he wanted to see the meaning behind: as though he wanted to see what made her tick. Realising he had been caught scrutinising her, he went back to eating, a pink tinge colouring the tips ears.

"Oi, icicles, could you stop having eye-sex, some of us are trying to eat." Maria glared at Tony, who didn't have the sense to shut up, "seriously, I'm not against seeing a beautiful woman out of her clothes, but if you conti..." He shut up very abruptly when when a large forkful of mashed potato splatted right in the middle of his face, a large portion of which when straight into his mouth. "Bleurgh! Okay who threw that," he said looking around accusingly. He stopped looking when his gaze fell on Clint, who was biting his cheeks in a vain attempt to keep from laughing, failing as he let out a caw of amusement. "You are so dead Clint," said Tony as he grabbed a handful of mash from his own plate, and leaning across to rub it into Clint's face. Maria estimated it took about two minutes to escalate into a full scale food fight. After Natasha got splatted, things got very serious. Pepper was quickly coated, as was Bruce. Steve got a little in her hair, but Maria managed to dodge most of the food coming her way. Then, she noticed Bruce off to one side, holding his head in his hands. She went over to him, concerned that he might be about to Hulk out.

"Bruce, are you alright?" He looked up at her voice, his features concerted by pain. After a moment he managed to groan out a few coherent words.

"Other guy... Laughing... Headache... Loud." It took a moment for Maria to realise what was going on. The other guy was laughing at the others. Laughing loudly, from what she could gather through Bruce's moans of pain.

"Would you like an aspirin?"

"No, thanks, I'm sure I can manage, thank you." Then, Maria felt something warm and wet splat onto her back. She turned around, as silence felt on the Avengers. Standing, with a spoon in his hand and a horrified look on his face, was Steve Rogers, America's golden boy. And he had just splatted her on the back with some of her, now abandoned and decimated, dinner. Tony was the first to crack, followed soon by Clint, peals of laughter echoing through the dining room. Steve opened his mouth to apologise, but Maria held up her hand.

"Save it." And with that, she wheeled around, and stormed back to her room. She got lost twice, and in total the journey took her almost twenty minutes, but she stormed all the way.

When she got back to her room, she slipped off her now ruined uniform, and slipped into bed, making a mental note to have JARVIS send to base for some of her clothes. Whilst tossing and turning in her queen-sized bed, trying desperately to sleep she thought on the events of the day. Clint's brooding, Natasha's silence (towards her, anyway), Thor's absence, Tony's arsehole-ness, Bruce's headache, and, lastly, Steve's, well, his... Steve. Just as she started to drift off, she realised something. When did she start calling them by their first names? Just that morning, she dreaded them crossing her mind at all, and now she was thinking about them as she went to sleep. With that somewhat disturbing thought, she let herself slip into blissful and all too needed sleep.


	7. Punching Sand

_Enjoy the awkwardness courtesy of everyone's favourite capsicle, agent 2.0, and th6e mag5nificent, resplendent and hand..._

**Tony, what the hell did you do to my iPad! Leave it alone.**

**Disclaimer: just because he broke into my house, dies not mean I own him, or any if the others. Especially because he broke in. To my parents house.**

***Update: contract signing scene now included***

The next couple of days passed without incident in the tower. Well, there was a small fire in the labs, but Tony insisted it was nothing major. Maria had just come out of a meeting with Fury, and had to go and talk to Steve about possible alterations to the Captain America suit. However, this was proving to be a problem. JARVIS refused to disclose his location, and not even the secret over ride Phil had taught her was having any effect.

She kept looking for about an hour, with no luck. It was only after her second sweep of the tower that she realised she hadn't seen him for a few days, ever since... the potato incident. Then, it struck her: he had been avoiding her. She knew that he had been embarrassed, so had she, but they needed to do work, goddamnit. She hadn't seen his muscular frame anywhere about the tower, and he was hard to miss. Then, she remembered the one place she hadn't looked, and, now she thought about it, it was so obvious. She walked briskly down the stairs.

When she neared the training floor, her suspicions were proved correct by a heavy thudding of fists on leather, followed by a screech of metal, and some mild, muttered cursing. Walking into the gym, she was met with a scene that surprised her. Laying against the wall was not one, not two, but six punching bags, split, sand spilling out onto the floor. A seventh was lying on the floor, broken chain still swinging. The snapping chain had been what she had heard as she came down the stairs, and, before that, the steady thumping on the bag. Her earlier suspicions of the culprit were further proved by Steve Rogers standing by the side of the punching bag, bent over. For a brief moment, she thought he was tired or hurt, but then realised. He was... crying. Or almost crying any way. The features on his faced were distorted, screwed up, as though he was trying to stop the tears from coming, to stop himself feeling, his hands wrapped around his head.

"Steve, are you okay?" She asked tentatively. His head snapped up when he heard her voice. Eyes cloudy for a moment, as though trying to remember what was going on, before they became a clear blue once again.

"Agent H... Maria. Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. How may I help you?" She noticed he had dodged her question neatly, but she let it slip this one time.

"I spoke with Fury. He wants me to offer you a formal S.H.I.E.L.D. contract. Nothing would change, you would just be paid, and everything would be dow..." Then, the door to the gym burst open, a red-faced, breathless Tony running in.

"Masked ball on Saturday. Celebrate the Avengers new pet Agent. You two icicles have to attend. Theme is 'Avengers'. Go back to planning to make baby icicles or whatever it is you were doing. Goodbye." And with that, he rushed out again, leaving Maria to glare at the swinging doors. There was a moment of awkward silence, before Maria decided on the best course of action to extricate herself from the situation.

"Well, now that is over. I will see you later to go over the paper work. Living area at 16:00. Don't forget." And she swept out, leaving a blushing Steve behind her, bewildered by the speed of her exit.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Four O'clock came faster than she thought, the day flying by in a flurry of calls to base, a short teleconference to Fury at the Triskelion to update him on the Avengers, a rushed lunch and piles and piles of paper work.

The living area, a floor above where she had met the Avengers and Pepper when she arrived, was completely different from anywhere else, with a coffee table, massive, curved, plasma screen TV, and assorted leather sofas and arm chairs, clearly Pepper's influence. Tony would never have gone foe something so simple, or let the big comfy arm chair (Steve's) that she was sitting opposite anywhere near his tower.

Tapping the end of her pen on the table, she looked up at the binary analogue clock on the wall as the seconds ticked by. Steve was running late.

At five past, just as she was about to give up and do something more productive than listen to the ticking of a clock, he came in, a small towel around his shoulders. His hair was wet, and, as she watched, he used on corner of the towel to wipe away a water droplet before it reached the collar of his tight, white workout top. She gulped.

"Sorry I'm late Maria," he apologised, lowering himself into his armchair, "I got caught up sparring with Natasha and had to grab a quick shower before coming here. I am so sorry to keep you waiting." Unbidden, am image of him and Natasha sparring on the mats, bodies soaked in sweat, of Steve touching Natasha. She felt a flare of jealousy spark within her, almost quelling the uncomfortable feeling low in her gut which rose at the thought of his sweaty body. 'Snap out of it Maria', she thought, shaking her head without him noticing.

"It's fine Steve, just try not to do it again, okay?" She asked, surprised at how her voice had gone slightly husky. He nodded. "Now lets get down to business." They went over the forms, Maria showing him where to sign, and pointing out the tasks assigned to him (special missions only), his level within SHIELD (6), and other little nuances of his contract. Unconsciously, whilst they were working, they moved closer, heads bent over the paper work.

When they stood up to leave, their bodies were so close they were almost pressed together. Surprised, Maria took a step backwards into the table. Before she could fall over, Steve wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her upright.

They just stood there for a moment, frozen by their proximity. Maria was first to recover. Quickly, she took a step to the side out of his arms and smoothed down her uniform where it had rucked up, her body missing the warmth of his arms.

"I'll send your paper work over to base to be filed,"she said, fighting to keep her voice even.

"Y-yes, of course," he stammered, still not entirely responsive, "you should go and do that." Maria turned and left the room quickly, fighting the urge to go back to him, ignoring the glorious feeling of his eyes on her back. What had she gotten herself into?


	8. Fangirl Rescue

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday, I literally wrote this just now. Had to go away with school for a bit. I hope you enjoy the randomness my brain cooked up.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Marvel, they would not be in the middle of a HYDRA take over. No way on Earth, Asgard, Jotenheim, Muspelheim, Hel, any of the other nine realms and beyond. **

It was Friday. It had been two days since the confrontation in the gym and the contract signing incident where she ended up in Steve's arms, and five since Bruce's beautifully cooked dinner ended up on her back, courtesy of a certain Captain. Speaking of which, it was his turn to cook tonight, and only half an hour till dinner time, but the kitchen was still empty. She was just about to start searching for him, just in case he forgot, when the lift dinged, and Tony barreled out, grabbing the remote to the giant thing he calls a TV.

"Ice Princess, you have to see this. Your fellow icicle is in danger of melting!" She scowls at him, before turning to the television. It was only then that she realised what he meant about her fellow icicle. On the screen, was an outdoor farmers market, overflowing with girls wearing red, white and blue, all surrounding a confused and slightly intimidated Steve, who was standing on one of the stalls, bags of shopping in his hands, balanced precariously. All of this was under the headline "Captain Returns to Brooklyn after Seventy Years". Apparently some of the people who had been in the bank he had saved during the invasion had seen him when his cowl had fallen down, and recognised him at the market. Twitter, Facebook, gossip sites and tumblr had all lit up with the sighting, bringing floods of fangirls to the small market in Brooklyn.

She almost laughed. Almost. She had to go and rescue Steve from the crazy fangirls if she wanted a decent dinner tonight. So, with one last look at Tony, was was now curled in a ball, rolling on the floor as he laughed his arse off, she swept out of the tower, pausing momentarily to grab extra weapons, and went to save his super soldier butt.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHChCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

When Maria got to the market, she found that the police had already arrived, and were trying to make a path through the fangirls in order to make a ring around the poor Captain in order to protect him from the crazier of the growing crowd. Unfortunately, some of the officers appear to have abandoned their duties, and have joined the hoards of screaming fans, trying to use their crowd-control gear to get to Steve.

Knowing that there is no way she is going to be getting through the crowds by herself, she takes out one of her guns, and is eternally grateful for whatever possessed her to fill this particular one with blanks before she came out. Then, she raises her arm, and fires six shots off into the sky, almost emptying the magazine. The fans stop screaming Steve's name, and turn to look at her. However, they abruptly turn back a few moments later.

"Maria." It's Steve. He said her name. In front of everyone. With a smile on his face. She can't help but smile right back at him. He takes this as his cue, and steps forward off the stall, before pushing his way through the crowd. It parts before him as the crazy fans back away once they have touched the 'object' of their obsession.

He stops when he gets to her, and grasps her hand in his. She almost pushes him away when she feels sparks, half convinced he had a joke buzzer in his hand, before reminding herself that this was Steve. He probably had no idea what those were. As though sensing her hesitation, he leaned forward, murmuring into her hair.

"Play along, and they might leave me alone long enough to get back to the tower. I have everything for dinner anyway." With that, he grabbed her hand and pulled her away, back in the direction of the tower, leaving a now quiet and rather dumbfounded crowd behind them, the few who weren't struck dumb glaring daggers at Maria.

As soon as they were out of sight, she pulled her hand from his, back poker straight, chin up, looking him in the eye.

"Make sure that never happens again, because, if it does, I won't be along to save your sorry arse." And she stalked off, leaving him behind her, trying to ignore the way her hand tingled where he had held it as her body had two days before.


	9. Dress Shopping

_Hey, Tony here. I can'-t believe I didn't think of icicles! Yes, I did break into Cecily's house again. No, she doesn't own me, I just find it funny to annoy her. She goes so British when she's annoyed. Kind of like a female, powerless JARVIS. She has no power over me! Oh, she's going to call Pepper. Gotta go now. See you later, alligators. Wait, how does she have Pepper's number? JARVIS, why did you betray me. Bloody British._

Saturday morning, and Maria was fuming. It was the day of the masked ball Tony had planned, and Pepper had decided that, since she didn't have any meetings, and Maria had been given the day off by Fury, that there could be no better time to go dress shopping. Pepper was very excited, as she was normally too busy to do girly things like this, and, besides, until six days previously, she hadn't had anyone to do girly things with. Natasha tended to spend shopping time with Clint in SHIELD's armory, increasing her knife and ballistics collections.

So, Maria decided to indulge her, despite having already bought her dress. Pepper was talking nineteen to the dozen all of the way from the tower to the nearest shopping complex about this that and the other to do with the ball, Tony, SI and so on.

Once they arrived at the massive yet somehow crowded complex, Pepper started to look around for someone, then started waving. It took Maria a moment to see who she was waving at, but once she had, she froze. Betty Ross was near one of the outdoor cafés, walking surprisingly quickly through the crowd of people. When, she reached them, she smiled wide, almost grinning.

Then, Pepper grabbed her and Maria's hands, and dragged them through the complex and out the other side, then down a few twisty little streets, before coming to a halt outside a small shop, hidden deep in the backstreets of New York. The shop was in an old stone building, but the facade had been painted dark purple, with golden tendrils like vines reaching up to the windows of the first floor. In the window display, were some of the most beautiful gowns Maria had even seen. It took all of her self control to stop herself going slack-jawed at the sight. She had always hated shopping and dressing up and things like that, but she even she could appreciate the beauty of the dresses. There were three in the window. One was a a long, elegant dress, done in green with purple trim. It had a cap sleeve on one arm, and was strapless on the other. It would be perfect for Betty, and she could see in the other woman's eyes. Next to it was a black dress, with a slit up the side, revealing a short red silk underskirt, which would have been perfect for Natasha, had she been here instead of wherever it is she was. The third was red and gold, with detailing mirroring that of the Iron Man suit. She didn't even need to look at the other woman's face to know that this was the one for Pepper. Then, after they had snapped out of their trances, they all stepped into the shop, the bell over the door jingling as they did.

"Right girls. We are all here to look for dresses for tonight. Betty, you'll obviously be looking for a hulk dress to catch Bruce's attention, and, hopefully, allow you to reconnect with him," Pepper stated, earning a small smile from the brunette, before she went over to the shop owner, probably to request the dress from the window, "I, of course, will be dressed along the theme of Iron Man for Tony, and you, Maria, will be dressed up for Steve, I'm assuming." She turned to look pointedly at Maria.

"What do you mean dressed up for Steve, why would I be dressed up for Steve?" Maria spluttered out, confused by the woman's words. Pepper just smirked.

"Don't think the rest of us haven't noticed the looks you two give each other. I could cut the sexual tension with a knife. If I had one. Tony would probably only let me have 12% of a knife. Now go and try on this dress," she said, pulling a red, white and blue one from the racks, and shoving it into Maria's hands, before propelling her into one of the changing rooms.

Maria quickly changed out of her fitted jeans and shirt, and into the dress, tugging it on carefully, so as to not damage it, before looking in the mirror. Her breath was stuck in her throat. She, it, was gorgeous. The dress fitted her curves perfectly, clinging to her chest and hips, before falling in elegant waves down to her ankles. The dress was the same blue blue as Steve's costume, with red and white trimming along the hem, cuffs and neck, and a red underskirt.

"Come out already, we want to see you Maria," Betty called from the outside, so she pulled back the curtain, and stepped out to join the other two. They both looked gorgeous, wearing the gowns from the window. She felt almost frumpy next to them. Pepper gasped as she turned around, catching sight of Maria.

"You look..." she started to say, before the bell on the door jingled again, and they all turned to see who it was. Maria felt her heart stop. It was Steve. He hadn't noticed them yet, and went up to the counter.

"Hello, I'm Steve Rogers. I'm here to pick up my suit. It had to be tailored, and I was told to pick it up today." The lady behind the counter nodded and scurried into the back of the shop. He turned around then and saw them. His eyes went wide as he caught sight of Maria.

"M-m-maria," he stuttered, his neck turning pink, "you look..." he trailed off, as though unable to find words. How was he unable to find words, Maria wondered, She looked good, she admitted, but not good enough to make him speechless. An ordinary man, but not Steve Rogers. Then the shop keeper came back holding a suit bag.

"There you go sir, you have already paid, so a good day to you." Steve took the suit, thanking the lady, and looked one more time at Maria, something akin to longing in his eyes, almost desire, before he turned and walked out of the shop, not acknowledging either of the other two women. As soon as he was gone, Pepper turned to Maria a huge grin on her face.

"See, I told you he liked you." Maria's response was to dive back into the changing room, mortified, and quickly change into her own clothes, before running from the store, and not slowing until she reached the tower, and even then only slowing enough to regain her composure. Her cheeks were burning. She couldn't believe that the others had seen her stupid childish crush on Steve. She was so embarrassed. As though someone like him could ever like someone like her.


	10. The Ball

**Sorry about the delay, started work experience and had no time to write.**

**This gets kinda fluffy, and a little weird and Cinderella is awesome, but not at all related.**

**Disclaimer: Natasha just rang. She wants her knives back. If I owned her, I'd own them, ergo, I own neither. Also, if I owned her, she wouldn't be calling me, as it's slightly illegal to own people. **

One hour before the ball, Maria was drying her hair. Pepper and Betty had come down, and asked her to join them up in Pepper's suite to get ready. Well, Pepper did. Betty was hiding in order to surprise Bruce. Obviously, Maria had declined, favouring a few more hours of quiet solitude, over a few hours of girl-time and being teased about Steve. Her dress, the one she had bought previously, not the one from the store, was hanging on the wardrobe door. It was beautiful. A deep, dark blue, the same shade as the Captain's night gear. The back of the skirt had the S.H.I.E.L.D. eagle in dark red fanning out behind her. It had a white underskirt, and the hem was trimmed with hundreds of tiny white stars. Built into the bodice was a layer of bullet proof material, just in case. There was also a small knife sheath hidden on the underskirt, and another in the seam where the skirt and bodice joined. Maria finished drying her hair, before she strapped a gun holster onto her leg, and pulled on the dress.

Once she had finished various guns and knives throughout the dress, as well as a taser in the sole of one of her dark blue stiletto heels, she sat down at the dressing table, and carefully applied her make-up: dark red lipstick; blue, shimmery eye shadow; and, white nail polish with minuscule, red gems on her thumbnails, before twisting her dark hair into an elegant chignon at the base of her neck.

By the time she was finished, it was 19:50: time to go. She stood up, and walked towards the door, pausing momentarily to don her blue mask, with red trim and white stars. She caught sight of herself in the mirror just as she walked through the door, and smirked. Unrecognisable. Good.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHChCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Maria swept into the tower just as the clock struck eight. She had slipped out unnoticed. She overrode JARVIS so that he couldn't tell Tony who she was, and walked into the ballroom. The entire place was done up in Avengers themed decor, the array of colours creating a veritable rainbow, with the exception if one corner, which was done up in ice blue, styled like one of those pet-palaces you can get for cats.

She spotted all of the Avengers quickly: Bruce was dancing with Betty, his gaze never leaving her mask; Tony was twirling Pepper round on the dance floor, her dress matching his tie and the mark VII Iron Man helmet he wore specially; Natasha and Clint were dancing together, cutting efficiently and gracefully through the other dancers; Thor was absent, still up on Asgard; and, finally, Steve, who was standing on his own with a glass of champagne, looking out at the dancers. Then, as though sensing her eyes upon him, he looked up. Their eyes met, steel and water. His gaze was mesmerising. Maria found she could not look away even if she had wanted to, and indeed she did not. She was vaguely aware of his feet moving, but not until he had reached her, did she realise that he had moved over any distance.

"Ma'am, would you like this dance?" He asked, holding out his hand, eyes never leaving her own. She, painfully, broke her gaze away from his, and stared at his proffered hand, before gently laying her own upon it, and letting him lead her onto the floor to dance. He looked ever so dashing and debonair in a navy suit with a white shirt and red, white and blue american flag tie. The song was relatively slow, she noticed, as they swayed in time to the music. She knew he never learnt to dance, but he wasn't half bad.

When the song started to end, he began to twirl her around, before dipping so so low that, had her hair been down, it would have swept the floor. When he brought her back up, just before the music died out completely, he pulled her very close. She could see his eyes flitting between her eyes and her lips, and couldn't help but let her eyes do the same, then, he slid he arm around her back, and pulled her into him, lips meeting. They stayed like that for a moment, lips meeting, both applying pressure, but neither sure what to do beyond that. Maria had been waiting for this for days, but for Steve, she knew, he was kissing someone he had met minutes earlier, a veritable stranger, not Maria, and definitely not Agent Hill.

They broke apart as suddenly as they had come together. Maria was suddenly aware of the deathly quiet which had befallen the room, and, as she looked around, she noticed lots of people's stares, as well as people muttering. People seemed to be wondering who she was, completely oblivious to the fact that she was the Ice Princess herself. Her focus was brought back to Steve by a hand gently placed on her hand. He was looking at her intensely, as though he too was trying to work out who she was.

"Who are you?" His voice was inquisitive, but the words cut deep, deeper than she had thought. She had never wanted him to recognise her, only for her to be able to dance with him, be close to him, give herself over to her desires even for a moment, but it still hurt that he did not know who she was, though she was wearing an almost-full face mask, only revealing her lips and jaw, far more covering than his, which covered only his eyes. She pulled away from him then, gently pulling herself out of his arms. He tried to pull her back, but she only shook him off, walking from the room.

As soon as she was out of sight, she began to run, all the way back to her room, where she stripped off and quickly removed her make-up, yanking her hair down, before collapsing onto her bed, and giving herself over to blissful peace, forgetting completely about her plan to appear again, dressed in a different dress, to reveal herself and remove her name from the list of suspects.


	11. The Morning After The Night Before

**Sorry for the break, writers block. Too tired to think of anything better, but this does work with my plans. And yes I do have plans. This is actually based off a one-shot I wrote from a head canon, but it didn't work alone, so I wrote this. Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I can barely look after myself, how would I manage Marvel, exactly?**

As she slept, Maria dreamed. Of course, she dreamed often, but those were normally nightmares, filled with the horrors of what she had seen, what she had done. The people she'd killed, by hand or by order, coming back to haunt her, agents she'd sent out on missions who hadn't come back all whirling around till she would wake up screaming, a film of cold sweat covering her body.

But that night, she had pleasant dreams, filled with spangly dresses, of dancing round and round, of Steve kissing her, and then more. Of him taking her up to his room, decorated in blue, red and white (though she had never seen the real thing), taking her to the bedroom and romancing her, before they fell into bed, sleeping together, but nothing more than that, just sleeping. It was pleasant, sweet and fluffier than anything she'd ever dreamed of before, echoing back to wishes during her childhood, and, when she finally woke, she found she almost missed his presence, though, in reality, he had never been there at all. She showered and dressed quickly, making sure to wipe all traces of her make up from the previous night from her face, as, if the others saw it, they might guess who she was, and that would not be good. This took, her slightly longer than expected, the red gems on her nails refusing to budge and her nail polish remover having hidden itself it the top most corner of her cupboard.

When she got up to breakfast, she was surprised to find only Bruce there, waiting patiently for the coffee machine to finish making his drink, before he went off to his lab. Maria made herself a bowl of porridge, and was in the middle of slicing some bananas when Clint dropped down from the ceiling, a smirk on his face as he regarded her.

"What it is?" Maria asked, irritated already, despite him only being in the kitchen under a minute.

"Nothin'," he said, drawing out the o, looking at her in a way which made her sure it was far more than nothing, but before she could ask him any more, his gaze slid to something over her shoulder, and instantly softened. Maria spun around, only to come face to face with Natasha raising one eyebrow at her partner's soft expression, before her gaze slid to Maria, instantly becoming shifty for a moment, before turning blank.

"Clint, stop terrorising 'Ria," she teased.

Honestly, Maria thought, for assassins, they can be bloody obvious at times. They clearly already suspected her, not that that would be obvious to anyone but those who had worked with them for a long time. Maria knew she wouldn't be able to get anything out of either of them, so she just continued chopping her banana. Before long, They had both gone into the air vents, probably headed to eat lunch on the roof. It was no wonder everyone thought they were together.

Maria soon finished preparing her breakfast, and was just sitting down to eat, when Steve came in, brow slightly damp with sweat. Clearly he had been in the gym. Her heart beat faster and faster, picking up speed as he drew nearer the counter top. It was the moment of truth. Had he realised who it was, who she was, who he had kissed last night? Her questions were answered when he walked straight passed her, heading to the hob to cook up a good breakfast, with only a brief, yet polite, good morning.

She had finished eating by then, so she cleaned up her cutlery and crockery as he cooked. It was almost domestic. The thought made her laugh. Her and Steve? Domestic? They were a secret agent and a super soldier. It what world could they possibly ever be considered domestic? And anyway, he didn't like her that way, as the night before had proved. He liked the mystery girl, the girl in the Captain America dress, a mask concealing her face. Not her. It probably hadn't even crossed his mind that it could ever possibly be her. So she just walked away, left him in the kitchen, while she went to work.


	12. A Dinner-time Interrogation

**Yet again, sorry for the delay, but I came home yesterday to find our favourite Captain and Commander snogging on my sofa. Apparently, they found my address in Tony's address book and, thinking he had got himself a third house in Britain, they decided to come and get him back for calling them Icicles. They were both slightly embarrassed and left quickly. I'm just glad they didn't realise that I came up with Icicles.**

**Disclaimer: They break into my house, I have no control over them! If I did my life would be so much bloody quieter.**

Maria carefully avoided the Avengers the rest of the day, a task which she gladly under went once Stark had surfaced with a thundering hangover at around one. It was a Sunday, and so Bruce's turn to cook again. The week had gone by rather quickly, she realised. It seemed like only yesterday she had got that blasted e-mail from Fury informing her that she was to manage the Avengers. Indeed, it had only been a week, but still. She was dreading confronting the Avengers after the ball last night. She was certain that strike team delta had already worked it out, and she knew that, if Tony hadn't, he would be berating her for not showing up to a ball held for her, and interrogating Steve about the girl last night. When she had gone out for a run before lunch, try as she might, she hadn't been able to ignore the newspapers, many of which were talking about the Avengers' ball, and most of those speculating over the identity of the mystery woman. She changed out of her exercise gear and into her uniform, knowing that she would have to go back to S.H.I.E.L.D. later that morning to report on the Avengers and perform some of her duties as Fury's right hand woman.

Dinner went exactly as expected.

"And where were you last night missy?" Tony said, glaring at her through narrowed eyes, "I organised a ball to celebrate your arrival, I even had part of the ballroom decorated as an ice palace, and you don't even show up!" Pepper shot him a pointed look, "okay, the ice palace may have been a little over the top, but still, you didn't show up. Bad pet Agent." Maria gritted her teeth.

"I'm sorry Stark, but I had work to do and lost track of time. Did you know that you, alone, generate as much paper work for me as the rest of the Avengers put together?" He snorted at her and rolled his eyes.

"Work! What kind of work is more important than celebrating?" He said, completely ignoring her comment about the paperwork.

"Lots of work, Tony, now stop pestering Maria," Pepper interjected, exasperated at her boyfriend's antics. Tony shut up and ate his curry and chapati for ten minutes before he started up again. This time, however, his comments were aimed at Steve.

"So, popsicle, where have you been hiding the girl from last night? And don't try and tell me that was the first time you two met, I could see the chemistry, and there is no way you, of all people, would kiss a girl just after meeting her." Maria felt her cheeks flush at Tony's comment on chemistry, and bending her head to hide her blush, she focussed intensely on her food. Feeling eyes on her, she glanced up, only to be met by the almost accusing gazes of the assassins at the table. She quickly looked down at her plate again, ears pricking as Steve began to speak.

"Tony, I honestly have no idea who she was. I had never seen her before. I just saw her across the dance floor, and it was like I was back with..." his voice trailed of, a slightly pained expression on his face, "Peggy, but I wasn't. Everything was different but the feeling was the same. It just felt so..." he paused again as though searching for words, "right." Tony was looking at him, incredulously. Maria looked up to see Natasha studying her.

"You really don't know who she was, do you?" Tony asked, still clearly slightly sceptical, but less so than he had been.

"No, but I wish I did. We just clicked." Unable to take it any more, Maria stood up.

"If you'll excuse me, it has been a long day, and I have to be up early tomorrow. I, for one, do not need to hear all about Steve's romantic life." She picked up her stuff and dumped it in the dishwasher, ignoring the looks that were following her every movement, then she left. She got ready for bed, and slipped off, sleep coming easy, she hadn't been lying when she had said it had been a long day.

(Whilst she getting ready for bed, she went into her wardrobe and searched in the back, taking a look at the dress before stuffing it back in: she went to sleep with a smile on her face, and tears pricking her eyelids).


	13. Drawings

**Short and sweet. I hope. I might have gone a little British at times, but I won't apologise for that. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Never actually seen Die Hard, so obviously don't own that. And seriously, the Avengers are annoying, why would I want to own them. Well, they are awesome, but still.**

The week went quickly, in a flurry if paperwork and commands, monitoring minor missions, and commuting back to watch the Avengers. Maria is always on the job, even when she isn't, and is so busy that Saturday rolls around sooner than she realises. As part of being the Avengers' babysitter is that she got weekends off from her normal duties, however, the weekend also meant that she had to stay with the Avengers for two days, with no 'normal' work to distract her.

Deciding to give herself a small break after two weeks looking after the Avengers with no major disasters, Maria allows herself to be indulgent. She sleeps in till 8:30, two and a half hours later than normal, then goes on a short jog in central park, playing some songs on her little used iPod. Then, she makes herself a steaming mug of hot chocolate and some sugary, chocolatey cereal for breakfast. after breakfast, she has a long, luxurious soak in the tub before a healthy lunch. After lunch she puts up her feet in the Avengers living, dismissing the lack of explosions from the lab, and streams a movie on the oversized television. The opening titles of Die Hard are just starting to run, when she notices a book on one of the comfy arm chairs which have been deposited around the place. Steve's arm chair, she realises with a jolt. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she reaches across and picks up the book: a sketch pad. Flipping through the pages she found pencil drawings of the howling commandos, of Peggy Carter, and Private Buchanan. Then, she came across something she didn't expect. Pages and pages of the girl in the dress. Most were with her mask on, but a few were with it off. In the ones with the mask off, she noticed, he had used Agent Carter's face. On all but one, the last one. When she saw it, she gasped, exhaling sharply. it had her face. He had given the woman Maria's face. What did this mean? Did he think it was her, or hope. Looking at it again, she eliminated the former, as it was both her face, and not her face. The drawing was slightly softer than her face, with a look captured in the eyes which would never be present in her own, though she hoped one day it would be: a look of trust, and of love. Setting the sketchpad down quickly as though it were a hot potato, she turned back to the film, which was now a good way through. However, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get the image of the final sketch out of her mind. She was so absorbed in trying to forget, that she didn't notice the slightly shuffling in the air duct above her, or the pair of sea blue eyes looking down at her, nor did she see the smirk which had infuriated her six days before.

Later, just as the credits were about to play, and Maria was starting to get ready to go to dinner, when there was a sudden flash of lightening followed by a crack of thunder. Maria felt her heart hammering in her chest, adrenalin flowing in her veins, alert: there was no rain due.


	14. Thor Arrives

**Of course, I own nothing. Darcy and Ian are so cute, aren't they? The sass master and the random guy. I apologise for nothing. Although you can probably guess who's Darcy, and who's Jane. Go tasers!**

Maria rushed up to the roof, pausing only momentarily to grab her guns, glad she stayed in loose, practical clothing.

When she arrives on the roof, she found that she had been beaten by the rest of the Avengers. They have all gathered in a circle, round the dark mass on the ground. In the diminishing light, it takes Maria a moment to notice that the mass is, in fact, Thor, as well as a couple of others. All of them are unconscious. Bruce is first to approach them, first aid kit in hand.

"Okay everyone, I am going to need some space to work. Now, none of them seem that badly injured, but whatever happened was bad enough to knock out Thor."after a quick examination, he changed his verdict, "actually, Thor has been hit with a taser from the pocket of the lady with the beanie," he said, indicating one of the unknown, probably human, people with Thor. "Tony, I'm going to need to get them down to the medical bay, so I'm going to need some help."

"There is a small medical bay in my apartment, it's a lot closer," Tony said, receiving some concerned looks from Bruce and Steve, "I tend to injure myself a lot."

"Okay, Steve, if you could get Thor, Tony could get the man, Clint or Natasha one of the women, and Maria, if you'd help me get the other, everything should work out fine."

Once Maria had finished helping Bruce move the woman with the light brown hair to the med bay, she took a step back to see what was going on. It was then that she realised that Steve hadn't yet arrived with Thor, so she headed back up to the roof to see if she could help.

On returning to the roof, Steve's problem became immediately obvious: Thor was holding onto Mjolnir, and Steve was trying to lift it away, but with little success.

"Just a suggestion, but why don't you just pry his fingers from the handle?" Steve jumped at the sound of her voice, spinning round to see her.

"Oh, Maria. So sorry, I didn't hear you come back. I tried that already. Have you ever tried to pry something from an Asgardian's hands, because it is bloody difficult."

"Then why don't you just pick him up? If he is, technically, the one picking up the hammer, won't that work?" Maria suggested.

"I had not thought of that." With that he picked up Thor, the hammer trailing in the Asgardian's hand. Steve quickly carried Thor down to Tony's personal med bay, and dumped him on the free bed, before passing out from the strain. Maria was barely aware of the world around her, as he dropped to the floor. She heard somebody yell his name, and it wasn't until everyone turned their heads that she realised it was her but she didn't care, she just ran to Steve.

"Steve, Steve, come on, you have to wake up," she murmured, dropping to the floor and craddling his head in her hands.

After a few minutes, he started to come round, eyes slightly bleary. For a split second after the open, Maria almost thinks they look purple. Before she can even blink, they are the baby blue that has frown familiar. Pushing himself up, he offers her a hand and pulls her up, before he turns around and heads into the med bay, leaving a puzzled Maria behind.


	15. Awakening

**Sorry about the delay, school trip. Been writing though. A couple of people commented on Mjolnir, and I know Steve can pick it up, and exactly why he couldn't shall now be revealed. Steve would like to say that he would never do anything like this to Maria. Tony burst out laughing. Something about a corridor and JARVIS. Maria then smashed his bottle of posh scotch, and he wouldn't tell me any more. *sulk* Hope you enjoy!**

Come the next morning, and many cups of coffee, all of the Avengers were in the medbay. Tony was leaning against the door frame sipping something alcoholic, Steve and Clint sitting looking worried, Natasha a silent guardian and Bruce fussing around some equipment. Thor had just regained consciousness for the first time a few hours ago, but, since then, had been drifting in and out of awareness. Maria was concerned about them. Normally, by this point, Steve would be making a plan. She decided to go and make herself another cup of coffee to try and keep her energy up. She has just put the coffee machine on, when she hears a call from up stairs. Waiting for a moment, she gets her coffee and goes up stairs to find Natasha and Clint questioning a slightly delirious, but conscious, Thor.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Clint asked.

"I was eating with father, when a message came through from Heimdall. There was a disturbance at my Lady's work place. I immediately rushed to the recently repaired Bifrost and travelled down to assist. On arrival, I was instantly attacked by an unseen force. The guards were acting most strange, going through my Lady's possessions. I tried to stop them, but I was losing against a force I could not see. I managed to get to my Lady and her friend, as well as the young man with them, and called to Heimdall to take us here before I passed out. Then, I remember waking up here. I am afraid that is all I can recall, friend archer. My Lady and her companions may be able to inform you further, but that is all I know. You must help her, you must," and with that last plea, Thor fell unconscious. Steve then left the room, but no one other than Maria seemed to notice, so she followed him.

He stopped when he got to the lounge level and spun around, looking at her. He seemed slightly confused for a moment, as though he did not recognise her. Then, his eyes lit up, and one side of his mouth went up.

"Maria," he practically purred, taking long strides towards her, "I was hoping it was you who was following me," he continued, sliding his arms around her waist, causing her eyes to go wide.

"S-s-steve, I d-don't know what you think you're doing, b-but whatever it is, please stop," she stammered, cursing at the effect the desire in his baby blues had on her. Wait, what? Desire? That was definitely unlike Steve. She was about to pull away, when one of his hands grabbed her chin, tipping her head upwards, before he crashed his lips to hers. The kiss before had been soft, gentle, respectful, but this was nothing of the sort. It was filled with a possessive desire. His arm tightened around her as he manoeuvred her into one of the sofas, his weight forcing her onto her back. She tried to break away, but he was too strong, too powerful, so unlike Steve. Then, she remembered. He hadn't been able to pick up Mjolnir, when he always had before. Why? The invisible force, the strange behaviour of the guards. This wasn't Steve kissing her at all. Then, she heard the Avengers come into the lounge, yelling at Steve. His hand slipped from her face to her neck, squeezing. Her vision started to go spotty, and the last thing she was aware of was Steve going limp, crushing, before her world faded to black and she lost consciousness.


	16. Crayghan

**Sorry this took so long, writers block sucks! It took me a week to invent an alien. Speaking of which, I now own an alien and a story line! *jumps for joy* Anyway, hope you like, and I couldn't resist the characters, please don't kill me.**

"Brain waves are picking up, she's coming around."

"Removing tube."

"Heart rate increasing, and, she's with us."

"Welcome back to the land of the living Ice Princess." Maria almost rolled her eyes at Stark's comment. She was vaguely aware of her surroundings, the overcrowded feeling in the room, the bright lights burning through her eye lids. She could hear a loud beeping, keeping time with the beating of her heart, and took a moment to think about where she was, and why. Then it hit her. The infirmary. She was in the infirmary after, Steve-no, not Steve, something pretending to be Steve-had choked her, tried to squeeze the life from her. She remembered the Avengers arriving, and was grateful. If it hadn't been for their timely arrival, she wouldn't have been there right now. Gently easing herself up, her eyes took a moment to adjust to the bright sterile lighting, but when they did, she was greeted with the sight of all the Avengers, (minus Steve, plus Dr Foster, taser lady and the other guy), crowded into a small hospital room, all carefully avoiding the seat, in which an anxious Coulson is sat. She could feel a burning in her throat, and wondered how long she had been under. Trying to sit up again, she feels a hand on her shoulder, and turns to see Coulson gently pushing her back down.

"Easy, Maria. You've only been out for a few hours, hence the lack of flowers," Phil said, gesturing the room, "they had to bring you back, though. You were very lucky Bruce was there. Rogers was very close to crushing your trachea. They had to intubate you to keep you breathing, so your throat is going to be sore for a while." Maria immediately tried no speak, but was again prevented from doing so by Phil.

"Uh, uh, uh, no speaking for you. And, before you ask, Rogers, or whatever that thing is, is currently contained in the... newest specialist cell in the SHIELD base."

"I suspect that the being which has taken over Steve is a thing called a Crayghan. They have been thought to be extinct since before I was born, but we could never be sure that they were gone for good. They take over the minds and bodies of their hosts, using their memories to fit in with the world around them. When they have no host, they are either in their original form, or invisible" Thor said, more to Coulson than anyone else.

"You know what that means Ice Princess?" Tony interjected, a smirk on his face. Maria gave him a pointed look, but he continued regardless. "That means that either the Icicles have been hiding stuff from the rest of us, or Steve has been having some has been a very bad boy scout, imagining naughty things with his fellow Icicle. Either way, he probably needs to go back in the ice afterwards." Tony waggled his eyebrows at her. This time, Maria did roll her eyes, as did Natasha and Phil. On seeing Phil's eye-roll, Tony turned to him. "And don't think I've forgiven you for being not dead, Agent. I still need to get JARVIS to run tests on you to make sure the Pirate didn't clone your DNA or something else which would require a scientific breakthrough which he didn't share with me or Brucie-babie," Tony whined.

"Shut up Tony," Clint warned through gritted teeth, defending his old handler, hand twitching for a bow, causing Natasha to place a hand on his shoulder, head shaking almost indiscernibly. Maria turned gently, managing to raise an arm to brush off Phil.

"Steve?" She croaked, ignoring Natasha's concerned look, "help?" Not understanding, Thor turned to Jane, puzzled.

"I think she means is there anyway to help St- the Captain," Jane says, looking at Maria, who gently nodded her head before collapsing onto the pillows, exhausted from the physical exertion.

"Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do," causing the others to all turn to him alarmed, "however, Crayghan tend to only stay within a host for a couple of earth days at most. However, Crayghan were not known to work for themselves, and there is another reason I am on earth besides the attack, though I fear the two may be related." This earned the attention of everyone in the room, including Fury, who had slipped in unnoticed, or at least unacknowledged, during Stark's rant. After an encouraging look from Jane, Thor continued. "Around one week ago, my brother, Loki, escaped from his guards during treatment from the healers. Heimdall has been unable to see him for the most part, but he was able to catch sight of him on Midgard briefly. It is likely that he was responsible for the attack on my Lady and her companions, Lady Darcy and... I'm sorry, but who are you?" Thor directed the last bit at the young man who was with Darcy, who spoke up.

"He's Ian, Selvig's new assistant, joined us recently. Speaking of which, where is Selvig?" Everyone turned away at that, not interested in the least, all going back to the problem at hand. Fury was the first to speak up.

"Okay, Banner, Stark, I want you looking for any abnormalities in radiation in the time period leading up to the attack. Romanoff, Thor, I want you on the ground looking through to find any traces of where your little brother and Selvig have gone. Coulson, Barton, I want you looking through tapes, see if we can find Loki how we did in Stuttgart. Foster, Lewis, other person, go with Coulson, he'll leave you with some people who will question you more thoroughly. Hill, stay in this bed, do not move, do not speak, and get better. I need my deputy back ASAP. You will be given a StarkPad linked to our systems so that you can manage stuff and keep up to date with the others and Rogers. Speaking of Rogers, or, rather, that Crayghan thing, I have to go check on him. Them. It. Whatever. Everyone dismissed." And with that, he strode from the room, everyone trailing after him with the exception of Maria, who couldn't, and was sat rather grumpily on the bed, not liking being unable to go into the field, or at least back into the offices, hoping that StarkPad would hurry up and get here.


	17. Steve Returns

**Unfortunately, I am being forced to go on holiday with limited access to internet. For ten whole days. I will try to update tomorrow as well, but I will not be able to update next week. I hope you like my revelations. Also, I solemnly swear not to permanently damage any characters. Enjoy.**

Looking down at her newly issued tablet, Maria quickly pulled up the footage for the containment cell Steve was in. From the way he, it was looking at the glass, she could tell Fury had just left. Though she knew it wasn't Steve, she could still remember the feel of his lips, no matter how harshly, against hers. It may not have been Steve at that point, but, physically at least, they had been Steve's soft, slightly chapped lips pressed against hers, his body pinning her to the sofa. His hand crushing her windpipe. No sooner had the last thought crossed, her mind, than she stopped that train of thought abruptly, and turned her attention back to the now pacing man on the screen. As she watched, there was a small flash of purple light, and Steve crumpled to the floor, unconscious. Standing in his place was an obviously alien being, which, though humanoid, was covered in lilac coloured fish-like scales, and stood at ten foot tall. It had a long, almost cat-like tail, and ears like an elf's from Lord of the Rings though also covered in scales. The Crayghan. As it turned to look at the camera, Maria could see that it had unnatural indigo eyes, rimmed with gold. That was probably why she had thought his eyes were purple when he came round after carrying Thor. As she watched, Phil approached the glass wall of the cell, studying the creature within with fascination, the Captain's shield on his arm. An alert popped up at the bottom of her screen. Thor had remembered more about the creature. Although relatively invulnerable to most substances, it was adverse to vibranium, as the substance scalded its skin, and prevented it from entering the bodies of anything touching it. That explained the shield, Maria thought, watching as Phil carefully tapped on the panel to open the glass door. Holding up the shield, he and another agent went into the room, and pulled Steve out, dragging him across the floor.

Unable to look at the creature which tried to kill her any longer, Maria switched to a feed of the laboratory in Norway, courtesy of a camera Natasha was carrying on a shoulder pin. She could see how wrecked the labs were, equipment destroyed, and one external wall smashed through. There were also some burn marks on the floor, but, on closer inspection, they turned out to be from Thor and the Bifrost. Thor went to search the surrounding area, looking for traces of magic, as he was more familiar with his brother's signature than anyone. Natasha stayed inside searching for any clues. She was searching through some broken glass, clattering quite noisily. That was probably why she didn't notice the green glow until it was too late. As Maria watched, Natasha spun around, only to be caught by Loki himself, who pinned her to the wall. Bending his head so that his neck filled the screen, he appeared to mutter something to Natasha that Maria couldn't hear, before they both vanished in a flash of green light.


	18. Searching For Apologies

**I am back, and I have internet! Still celebrating about that. Also, the return of a TV is nice as well. And Tony hasn't hacked my account in my absence. Now that is what I call a result. Hope you enjoy. *happy dancing***

As soon as Natasha was taken alerts were sent out to all personnel ranked level seven and above, as well as to Phil's new team, who had been flown in with Phil and were now responsible for monitoring the Crayghan. Bruce had been monitoring energy signals and was able to isolate the frequency given off by Loki when he teleported, and so would be able to flag up likely places where they had gone to. However, the frequency was commonly used for public radio transmission across Britain, and, with his accent, Loki would fit in perfectly making it all the more difficult to find him.

Shortly after Maria had finished making arrangements for Steve to be briefed as soon as he woke up, a nurse came in and started fiddling with her medication. After regarding her for a moment, Maria's natural curiosity got the better of her.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing?" She asked politely. The nurse turned around.

"I'm just adjusting your medication so that you can get some rest, as per the director's orders," the nurse explained before turning back to the drip. Just before Maria could protest and say that she needed to work, she felt a sudden calm creep into her mind and her body relaxed, before she slipped softly into a gentle sleep.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

When Maria came around, the first thing she noticed was that she wasn't alone. Sitting in the chair formerly occupied by Phil was a tall man with blond hair, clear blue eyes and well defined muscles. In her half awake state, it took her a moment to realise that the man she was ogling was, in fact, Steve. A slightly mournful Steve, who was holding her hand. As soon as he noticed that she had woken up, he dropped her hand, jumping back slightly, his cheeks lighting up a pale pink. She immediately missed the warmth from his hand.

"M-maria," he stammered, his ears darkening a shade, "I didn't realise you were awake. I heard what happened. I am so, so sorry. I had no idea. I am so sorry for what he, it, did. For everything." He was carefully avoiding her eyes, letting her know in that one simple gesture that he knew everything that the creature had done to her, both the hospitalisation and the kiss. That made her think back to what Tony had said when she woke up. She knew that her and Steve hadn't being doing anything, but that meant... No, she would not think about that. The poor man was so embarrassed it would do her no good to question him now. Though she hoped he thought about her that way. Oh, why couldn't she just tell him, ask him. This is why she hated superheroes, nothing was ever straight forward with them. Nothing at all. It all had to be wrapped in red tape And warning notices.

"It's okay Steve. I know it wasn't you at the time. It's fine." He opened his mouth, as though to say something, but hesitated, before closing his mouth again.

"Thank you Maria, I knew you would understand. Though, I believe Tony has taken it rather differently, if the messages he left for me are anything to go by." She looked at him, raising a questioning eye-brow. "He seems to think that there is something going on between us, but that is ridiculous. Why would you ever... Well, never mind about that. I suppose I had better go. I'm supposed to be flying out soon to go and look for Loki in London. I'll see you when you join us, if you get better in time. Well, bye," and, with that, he left, leaving a slightly confused Maria behind him. That sentence he didn't finish was playing on her mind. Why would she ever what? Like him? Well, that was ridiculous. He was perfect with his muscles and manners and everything else. More like why would he ever like anyone like her. But then why hadn't he said that.

Dismissing the unproductive thoughts for now, she turned to her Pad and started going through her recent notifications looking for any updates of the situation with Natasha and the search in London. She managed to find a note from Jasper wishing her to get well soon because he could not deal with the Avengers for one more minute as they were driving him up the walls. She remembered when she first took over, wishing that Phil would come back. Apparently, Clint went ballistic when he found out that Loki had taken Natasha, vowing to kill him the moment he laid eyes on him. Due to which he was now contained in one of the more secure cells. In the Fridge. With Felix being held personally responsible for his captivity. They needed to capture Loki alive. Just as she was about to start reviewing his containment plan, a notification popped onto her screen, alerting her that the plane carrying Bruce and Steve had now left for London. Steve was gone. For a moment, that made her slightly sad, before she focussed again. Now was not a time for moping about Steve, they had to find Loki, and hopefully, Natasha. All she could do now was plan and hope for the best. Like that the blasted nurse would let her out soon.


	19. Tom

**Sorry for making you wait so long. Filler chapter. Will update multiple times this week as school starts again next wedn-**

_hey guys. Samarium's personal tormentor here. It is incredibly fun going through her internet-_

**No don't read tha-**

_What the hell! Science boyfriends, Stony, Frost iron! What are you reading. Ooh, phlint, need to tease them about that. And what is it with people and using agent's middle name. What do you mean Phil's alive! That's it, I am going to talk to pirate. Hack you later._

**Sorry about Tony. Obviously do not own him, and clearly can't control him either. Hope you enjoy. I know where I want to go with the story, but this is drabble. Really sorry.**

Maria was still not happy with her living arrangements at present. The team she was supposed to be handling was in a different country thousands of miles away across the Atlantic ocean, chasing a crazed demi-god, searching for the team member he had taken. Well, at least her transfer to the helicarrier hadn't been questioned and she was now on her way over there. She was still confined to bed rest, but the new helicarrier came with a very nice private room for long term patients who had to be kept under observation whilst still doing a job. Basically, for when she, Fury, Jasper, Phil, Tori or Felix needed to be on the carrier, were not dangerously ill, but had to stay in bed. Though really, with Jasper at the triskelion, Phil on the 'bus', Tori at the Hub and Felix in the Sandbox, it was really for her and Fury.

She missed her bridge. Yes, she could send out orders from her tablet, but the only people she could glare at were Fury, whose visits were infrequent, and the nurse, who still insisted on dosing her up with drugs to make her sleep. Ten hours a day is far too long for any sane person. Not that knew anyone who was wholly sane. Or believed that such a person existed, but still. She was relatively mentally sound, considering her time on the front line, the number of times she had been in a room like this. Oh look, here comes Nurse sleep.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Hen Maria woke, they were still twenty minutes from London, just passing over the ROI. To pass the time, she started going through current mission files, and all relevant data around the hunt for Loki and, by extension, Natasha. From what she could tell, the Captain and Tony were currently infiltrating a... Shakespeare play. Maria had to read it again to make sure she hadn't got it wrong. No, they had indeed been sent to the West End to watch a performance of Hamlet, starring none other than Loki. Or Tom Hiddleston, as he was going by. There was no sign of Natasha, but that could mean anything. Using her computer skills, she hacked the feed from the comms.

"-capture him as he leaves the building?"

"Yes, that's correct Mr Stark, Sir," stammered a nervous level four agent.

"Then why the hell are we sitting through the whole performance?!" Stark all but bellowed in return.

"Because, Stark, he may notice you and Rogers and attempt to make a break for it, incriminating himself in the process." Maria couldn't help but interject.

"Ma- Agent Hill, what are you doing on our comm?" Steve questioned immediately, concern showing through in his voice.

"Yeah Ice Queen, aren't you supposed repairing? We wouldn't want you to melt and leave our Capsicle all frozen on his own? But, then again, you just can't stay away from him can you, you two icicles?" She could practically hear Tony's smirk and how his eyebrows raised suggestively. Suddenly, the agent cut in again.

"Target is exciting the building, team beta needs back up, I repeat team beta needs back up." After that, Maria could hear running, heavy breathing. The seconds stretched into minutes hours. She hated being in the dark, not knowing what was going on.

"Target has been apprehended and is being brought to the landing site for transportation to the carrier, repeat, target has been apprehended." Maria felt ecstatic. Loki was back in imprisonment, this time he had no mind controlled agents to bust him out.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Loki had just been imprisoned in the new improved cell, complete with runes matching those on his special bracelets, as Tony had christened them. Maria had the feeds from the cameras in and around the cell on the screen of her StarkPad. Looking at him, there could be no doubt in her mind that it was Loki from the pictures. But in the cell, he was sitting on the bench, left leg jumping under the pressure of his elbows, head buried in his hands, fingers gripping his hair. Face like Loki yes, but not the Loki she knew. Not the one she remembered. Not the one who took Clint and Selvig, then killed Phil. What happened to him To make him like this, she wondered. What, or who, broke him?


	20. Interrogation

**I am so sorry I have not updated in so long. School caught up with me, and I had to put writing to the side for a bit. Anyway, this chapter is quite important for the current storyline, so please read. Apologies again. Also, I will, shout out to the first person who correctly guesses who Ben is. Clue: Sherlock.**

Normally, Natasha would be the one carrying out high-risk, delicate interrogations, able to tailor her technique depending on her victim. This time though, her services were unavailable due to fairly obvious circumstances. Maria herself would have likes to have carried out the interrogation of Loki, but she was unable to leave her bed, so the task fell to Nick. The man strode purposefully up to the cage.

"Hello, Ant," was all he said, observing even the slightest twitch of the man - god - inside.

"Please, please let me go, I have done nothing wrong. Please," he begged, sounding so unlike Loki, voice breaking. They had taken samples of his tissue for the lab to examine. Her StarkPad dinged, but she was too focussed on the interrogation to check it just yet, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't, Loki. Just how long are you going to keep up this Tom disguise, because I don't have all day. Oh wait, yes I do."

"Loki? Isn't that the crazy bastard who tried to flatten Manhattan? Dreadful business, and I assure, I had nothing to do with it. Ask Ben if you don't believe me."

"Ben? Brain washing brits now? I'm going to leave you to stew for a while longer. Just tell us where Natasha is, and we might go a little easier on you." With that, Nick turned around, and stalked from the area surrounding the chamber.

"No, please, you have to believe me, you have to!" The man sat on the bench, face in his hands as his shoulders heaved in apparent sobs. Not like Loki at all.

Now that the interrogation was clearly over, Maria checked the notification on her StarkPad. As she read grew increasingly disbelieving, setting down the Pad once she had finished reading, reaching a hand up to gently massage her temples. There, in black and white, were the reasons for Loki's strange behaviour.

'DNA: human. Name: Tom Hiddleston. Profession: Actor.'

He wasn't Loki. Wasn't Loki at all.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Sending a quick message to Nick and Steve once she had recovered from the shock. Maria slumped back down. Undoubtedly he was still in Britain, almost certainly in southern England, but they were no closer to finding Natasha than they had been that morning, or yesterday morning, as the case was. Damn jet-lag. Worst of all, they had incarcerated an innocent civilian, and technically broken the law by not reading him his rights, as, as a god, Loki did not have any. But Tom Hiddleston did. And he could sue. Publically. For a lot of money. This was a disaster in the making. Just as Maria was starting to draft ideas as to how they could get out of this mess without breaking more British laws - the specifics of which she needed to look up - the sister came in and started fiddling with her medication again. Great, just as she was getting somewhere, she would spend another couple of hours asleep.

Just as Maria started to lose consciousness, the nurse turned around. It was not her usual nurse. This one looked very familiar, with a shock of bright red hair peeping out from beneath her weird hat thing, and pure black eyes pierced her. As Maria watched, the eyes faded to a paler, grey-blue, and the nurse collapsed to the floor. Reaching over in her precious last seconds before oblivion, Maria pressed the emergency button. As black crept into the edges of her vision, something clicked in her drug hazed mind. Natasha. Nurse Natasha.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Coming around again, Maria estimated that not much time had passed. Bruce was standing beside her bed, looking slightly worried.

"She injected you with a mild toxin, not enough to kill you, but it would have put you in a coma. Natasha is fine, but unconscious. It appears that Loki is specifically targeting you. The reason for this is unknown, but we suspect he considers you to be a danger to him as the new SHIELD - Avengers liaison, and as deputy director of SHIELD. Clint informed us that, though he remembers little of his time under Loki's control, one of the things he does remember was Loki describing you as 'Boss Lady'. He appears to know that you hold a good position. If he learnt anything from Natasha, he may also know that to kill you would damage the Avengers team greatly." When Bruce finished speaking, he gave her a long look. "Steve will be back in a minute, yes you can talk, no, you can't leave the bed. Oh, and play nice. He was the first to arrive in your room when you pressed the button, and just like in all clichéd relationships, you wake up in the five minutes he leaves you for the first time in three hours." After finishing his little speech, Bruce abruptly left.

A few long minutes later, and Maria was missing her StarkPad, which had clearly been removed when she slipped unconscious. Before she could bemoan the loss out load to herself, Steve returned, carrying said Pad.

"Natasha caught it with her arm when she fell. I took it down to Tony because it wouldn't turn on," he said sheepishly in answer to her questioning look. Approaching the bed almost warily, he lay the Pad down next to her arm, and retreated to the arm chair next to her bed.

"Anything on Loki?"

"Not that I've heard, but the messages will be going straight to your... thing," he explained, gesticulating to the Pad, " we released the Tom guy with a sincere apology. After showing him a picture of Loki, he said he wasn't going to press charges or do anything. I think Fury was just pleased that he didn't have to threaten him. He was a genuinely nice guy." Before Maria could say a word, he Pad beeped.

Pulling up the video stream, it turned out to be a camera in Natasha's room.

"H-h-he, he f-f-fixed me," Natasha almost stammered.

"What do you mean he fixed you? What did he do?" An irate and concerned Clint questioned.

"He Fixed me," Natasha said again, laying a hand across her stomach, "he healed it."

"Well fuck," Clint muttered.


	21. Healed

**Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! School caught up with me, and I haven't had time to post. I've barely had time to read! I hope this chapter makes up for the last one! Well, I am now going to go and faceplant my bed. And a headaches tablet. I bid you adieu!**

**As always, I own nothin-zzzzzzzzzzz**

"Well fuck," Clint murmured. Natasha nervously looked up at him unable to quite meet his eye. "Are you sure there is nothing we can do to, well, you know. Get rid of it?" He questioned tentatively, not wanting to unset the volatile assassin.

"Get rid of what?" She shot back. He looked at her slightly confused.

"B-but you said, you said he-he healed you!" He exclaimed, voice breaking with un-shed tears.

"Yes, healed me. As in, he repaired everything. My fourth rib, which wasn't quite lined up, the weaknesses in my left femur, my reproductive system, and so much more. What did you thi- oh no, you did not! He did not, I wouldn't let him, never. No! No!" She was yelling now, gesticulating with her arms, frustration painted on her features.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok! Its just... I thought. Tasha, please. Why on earth would I have thought that he didn't hurt you! Not only that he didn't hurt you, but he fixed you of all things! Tasha!" He bellowed back.

"You, you of all people. He did it because of you, for you!", Natasha barely whispering the last as she sat back on her bed, face in her hands.

Clint slid down next to her. "What do you mean Tasha?" He laid a gentle hand on her arm, "what do you mean 'for me'?"

"He said 'give the hawk my apologies, little spider. I never meant to hurt him. Or you'." She broke down after that, her cold facade crumbling as she clung to Clint, his arms going around her shaking shoulders.

Deciding it would be best to leave the two assassins to have their private moment with one less pair of eyes, Maria closed down the tablet and laid it down on the table to think.

Loki? Kind to Natasha? Of all people, Natasha? The woman who tricked him on the helicarrier, the one who closed the portal, Natasha? Of course, they had those couple of hours the night before he was taken back to Asgard, after he had been captured, but nothing had happened. Had it?

Just as Maria was contemplating her friend's relationship with an intergalactic war criminal, there was a knock on her door. Maria jumped, startled out of her own mind. She looked up at the door, returning the warm smile of the super soldier who leant there.

"Steve! How are you? Come in, sit down," Maria said, indicating the plushy chair beside the bed which had been wheeled in at Phil's direction.

"Good, I'm good. Great, even. We found her. Tom may have turned out to be a red herring, but Nat! We found her! Anyway, enough of my jabbering. How's the n- how's your recovery going?" He gushed, collapsing into the chair.

"Good, good, I should be out of here in another week or so, which is good. Really good, in fact. Can't wait to get back to the tower."

"Great," he exclaimed as his eyes brightened, "it'll be great to have you back Maria." A clichéd shiver went down her spine when he said her name like that, soft and sweet, rolling off of his tongue. "Well, I best be getting back. Tony will be making crude so-called jokes if I dally any longer. Actually, scratch that. He'll be making crude jokes anyway. Ever since that damned... Anyway, I've gotta go. I'll let you tell the others about you returning. So, I'll, ah, see you around." He quickly got up and left, ears pink, barely waving a good bye. She didn't even have time to bid him farewell before he was gone.

'Bloody crayghan! Maria cursed internally. If it hadn't been for that damned alien, we wouldn't be this awkward. Why, oh why!'

**Who is Ben? Sorry, no babies.**


	22. The Little Things

**Okay, I am actually happy with this chapter. It only took me three weeks. In my defence, I have been working on other things, including my book, and I haven't been particularly well. Anyway, if you are reading this, I thank you for your support of my lazy arse. **

**Also, I am disappointed no one has guessed who Ben is.**

**Disclaimer: At some point in the future, you might here about Marvel being bought, but not by me. Whoever heard of a (hopeful) future scientist buying a company like Marvel?**

Maria had just found the most annoying part of being a woman who was hospitalised for a ling period of time without being able to take her... medication. At least she was on pain meds from her drip still, so that part wasn't a problem. However, having to specially request certain items that she hadn't needed in a long time, and having all of her requests go through nick and a dozen other people.

Ignoring her annoyance at being female, Maria picked up her tablet - she was thinking about requisitioning it permanently, it was really handy - and checked through all of her updates and tasks for the day. A new batch of junior recruits were coming on the helicarrier to gain practical experience from communications. She snorted at that - they would probably be better of on one of Jasper's boats, or with Vic at the hub, or pretty much anywhere but the carrier. Well, maybe not with Felix at the sandbox, but still. Snapping herself out of her wondering, she went back to her schedule. As they were heading back stateside, she and the Avengers would be dropped back at the tower.

Switching to her Avenger-specific updates, she noticed a little red notification. Natasha was being let out of medical today. Maria smiled. At least someone was getting out, she thought to herself. Scrolling through she found a few more notices about the suit and other standard things which she had missed whilst asleep. Suddenly, she heard a cough.

Her head jerked up to see a smirking archer leaning against her doorway.

"Clint! Don't to that to me," she exclaimed glaring at him.

"You know, reactions like that could cost you 'Ria." She continued glaring at him. "Aw, did I interrupt you thinking about your Captain?"

"Steve is not my Captain," she shot back, "anyway, shouldn't you be more worried about Loki being nice to Nat?" Maria asked. He glared at her, causing a spontaneous giggle from Maria.

"'Ria, you know how Nat and I are, so please, just drop it," he beseeched.

"Fine, fine. So, if not Nat, then what are you here to talk about?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, I'm here to talk about you," he said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, pushing away from the door and slumping forward into the chair.

"Me, why me?" She inquired, head on its side, "are you just here because I'm still confined to this confounded bed?" Her eyes narrowed at her old friend.

"No, not as such..." He trailed off.

"Clint?"

"Oh," he startled, "sorry. Well, um, its sort of about Darcy."

"Darcy? Who- oh, you mean Dr Foster's friend Darcy. Yeah, what about her?"

"Um, well, she was kind of wondering if she could, well, come and visit you when we get back to the tower. That and bring your... gifts." He scrunched his nose slightly.

"Gifts? Who would get me gifts? I thought I was just the Ice Princess?" Her brow creased in confusion. Who on earth would get her gifts? Not Stark, that's for sure. Steve probably felt guilty, but he wasn't a big spender and knew she didn't like anything fancy, so not him. She barely knew Thor, Jane, Ian or Darcy, so probably not them, although, by the sound of it, Darcy probably got her stuff. Bruce she got along fine with, but he wasn't the gift-getting sort, and neither were Natasha and Clint, no matter how close they might be, for an assassin, an archer and an agent, anyway.

Clint gaped at her. "Who would get you presents!?" He exclaimed, eye-brows rocketing, "who? 'Ria, everyone got you something, even if it was just a contribution to the main present!"

"Everyone? Who, exactly, is everyone?" Maria was stunned. Everyone? And they got her a main present?

"Everyone. Fury, Jasper, Phil, Felix, Victoria, Phil's kids, Melinda, me, Nat, Steve, Bruce, Tony and Pepper, Thor and Jane." He counted on his fingers, tongue tucked between his teeth. "I think that's every- oh, and Darcy and Ian, of course, though I think Darcy just stuck Ian's name on a few of her gifts." At this point, Maria was shutting down. Everyone really did mean, well, everyone.

"Wait, even Stark?"

"Yes, Stark went slightly over the top, but Pepper was able to prevent his more... eccentric ideas." Maria just stared straight ahead. "Okay, so whilst you process that, I'll just go and test out my new arrows."

"Oh, okay," she murmured. Just as Clint went through the door, she called out. "Wait!"

"What?"

"Tell Darcy she can come visit. It would be nice to get a frequent visitor," she said pointedly. Clint grabbed his chest.

"Ouch! That really hurt 'Ria. I think you've killed me. Could you, could you tell my arrows that, that I love them? Could you do that, 'Ria?" She smirked.

"Get out of here, you goof-ball. Go on, shoo. Go play with your new toys."

He waved slightly, and then was gone, for real this time. Maria sat back. So, they all got her gifts. One side of her mouth lifted in a sort of half-smile. She hadn't realised that they actually cared enough to get her a gift. Must be the little things. She picked up her tablet, ready to get on with work, when the nurse came in.

"Oh come on, I just slept!" Maria complained. The nurse looked at her and shrugged.

"Sorry, director's orders," she explained.

"Urgh." Maria felt a tingle go through her as the nurse fiddled with the medication, injecting a mild anaesthetic. Reflecting back on Clint's visit, Maria smiled again, and slipped into darkness with the look still on her face.


	23. Visitors

**I cannot believe it has been over three months, I am so sorry, I just went through a bad patch with writing, then I had loads if exams, I am so sorry. Okay, so, I added an extra bit to chapter 7 as a mini sorry, and then extended this chapter massively, again, I am so, so sorry**.

**Disclaimer: it took me three months to write one chapter, how would I have the time to manage Marvel in all it's glory!?**

Being back in the tower was good. The best of health care money could buy, courtesy of Stark, combined with the almost futuristic medical equipment, also courtesy of Stark, his lab this time, and the access to SHIELD and the Avengers whilst hospitalised. Just a shame she was still confined to a bed. On the bright side, she didn't have to be put into drug induced sleep. Of course, this meant she had to retrain her body to her old hours, but that wasn't too hard.

Over the final week of enforced bed-rest, Maria had a steady stream of visitors most days, hardly leaving her with a moments peace.

If it wasn't Darcy bouncing (literally, bouncing, it was like she was on an invisible pogo-stick) jabbering on about how cool Tony ('Tones') was and all the stuff Jane was doing with the equipment (both science stuff in the lab with Bruce, Tony, Darcy and Ian, and private stuff with Thor) and how sometimes Natasha would just sit there looking at her as though peeling back the layers of an onion and examining a sample of each one under both an optical and an electron microscope (literally the metaphor she used) with Clint sitting in the air duct looking almost wistfully at Natasha looking at her (this girl was far more observant than most people gave her credit for) and how Steve and Thor looked while sparring in the gym (she also talked too much, without a brain-to-mouth filter) and other happenings around the tower, then it was Phil sitting in the chair beside her bed and talking about his team and the missions they went on.

She learnt a lot about his pseudo-daughter (a girl named Skye who was almost a ghost digitally), his British science babies (FitzSimmons. It took her a while to realise they were two people, and then more time to get that they weren't siblings or married, but Phil thinks they should date), and Ward, though not a lot about Ward, other than the porcupine was looking less accurate, but the poop with knives might apply, and then stuff about Melinda. Loads about Melinda. Maria knew they had been dancing around each other for years before Bahrain, then she withdrew from everyone, and he was seeing the Cellist, then he died but didn't die and why couldn't they just get their heads out of their arses already, for goodness sake!? Clint and Nat also popped by a couple of times to say hello, as had Bruce, Thor, Jane, Tony and Pepper.

Unfortunately, Clint hadn't been exaggerating about the gifts. Every surface apart from the chair, and a small path from the chair to the door to her bed, was completely covered in flowers, soft toys, gift baskets and goodness knows what else. Of the one she's found, her favourite had been a german 'gift' basket from Tony, taking the german word gift and using it literally to create a bow of popular poisons, topped off with a live hellebore, despite it being June (hellebores are also called winter roses).

On the penultimate day of her imprisonment, she got a surprise visit from Steve.

She had been going over pertinent information on current operations she was supposed to be running, when she heard someone tapping on the doorframe to her room. Glancing up, she caught a brief glimpse of a very solid blonde leaning in her doorway, a small smile on his face. It took a moment for her to realise it was Steve. When she did she looked up at him slightly shocked. She hadn't seen him since just after they found Nat.

"Um, hey, Maria. You're looking well," he said.

"Hey, don't look so bad yourself Steve, considering you're what, two, three hundred years old?" She joked. He smiled at her.

"Uh, well," he reached up with his left arm to rub the back of his neck, "could I, um, come in?"

"Oh, yeah, of course." Maria cursed inside her head. Stupid stupid stupid! Why hadn't she invited him in!? "Just try not to trip on anything. I don't think a super soldier landing on it would do much for any of the stuff." His smile cracked open so wide it was almost a grin at his made his way through the minefield of presents to the comfy chair that had followed her from room to room. She kept her anywhere but on him as he walked across the room and sunk into the chair (cushy, as per Coulson's specifications).

"So, why are you here?" She said, internally wincing at how blunt she sounded, as he actually flinched.

"I, uh, well, I just came to see how you're doing, Maria," he said, "and I was hoping we could forget about what the Crayghan did, and just, well, move on?" He asked tentatively.

She felt it hit her, images of him, his body, pressing against her, choking her. The reason she was in this bed. Shaking her head, she snapped out of her memories.

"O-of course we can, Steve. There really isn't anything to move past." He looked visibly relieved at her words.

"Good, that's... yeah, really good. So, heard you were getting out of here tomorrow. Must be looking forward to that."

She cracked a smile. "Like you wouldn't believe! You know, I never thought I would miss going to Star-Avengers Tower. Or you, for that matter." His brow furrowed and she corrected herself. "And when I say you, I meant you, as in the Avengers and co, not that I didn't miss you personally it's just-"

"Maria!" She snapped out of her rambling. "It's fine. I got what you meant." Damn that man, why did he make her mess up like that. With anyone else conversation went fine, but with him, she was just really awkward.

"So, should I just go?" She snapped out of her internal ramblings.

"Hmm, what?" What was he talking about? Go? Where, why? Had something happened whilst she'd been thinking.

"It just looks like you've got a lot on you mind, so I should probably go." Yeah, Maria thought, a lot of you on my mind. There is a lot of yo-damn it Maria! You are not a fangirl, you are not a fangirl, you are not a fangirl!

"Umm, y-yeah, I guess. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, tomorrow. Right. Bye."

"Bye." With that, he wove back through the gifts and went out the door, leaving Maria all by herself again.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

A few hours later, Darcy bounced into her room again and perched on the side of her bed.

"Hey, Maria!" Maria glared at her, indicating her bluetooth headset. "Yes, I know you're very busy being important, but I really need you to sign this real quick."

Maria ignored her and continued trying to have a conversation with Coulson about the set up with the Avengers, and the hunt for Loki, on the headset.

"Look, I promise I'll leave you alone until tomorrow if you sign." That got Maria's attention.

"(To Coulson) Could you hold on a moment please. (To Darcy) Okay, okay, just give me it and I'll sign." Darcy handed over a single sheet of paper and a pen. Maria glanced over it quickly and it seemed harmless enough, just talking about a welcome back party, so she signed quickly. "Okay, done. Now shoo!" Darcy got up quickly and scrambled out, pausing by the door.

"Thanks Maria. See you tomorrow." Then she was gone, bouncing down the hall. Maria rolled her eyes. Kids!

"Sorry Phil, Darcy came in. Now, what were you saying about unusual energy signatures near the tower?"


	24. Truth or Dare

**This one hurt to write. You'll see why. Originally, this was a one shot, slightly different to how it is now, from the dotted line down, but I felt it needed expansion, so I wrote the entire story leading up to this. Originally, it would have ended here.**

**It has been brought to my attention that some people don't know who Ian is: he's the research assistant dude in TDW. You know, the one Darcy kisses when the nine realms are under siege.**

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.**

Maria was let out of the hospital wing early the next day. She immediately started to shift all of the stuff from her hospital room down to her suite, a monumental task which, even with Darcy and Ian's help, took the whole morning.

After ushering them out, she started sorting through all of the stuff, snacking her way through a light lunch.

As well as the basket of assorted poisons, she also found some sets of knives from Natasha, and a custom hand gun from Clint, as well as an over abundance of chocolate, flowers and cuddly toys.

(The toys were sent to a children's home for those who were left orphans by the Battle of New York).

Maria then spent the rest of the day occupying herself, as she was still on leave until Monday, a whole two days later. Damn Fury and his over protective instincts. She didn't need another Dad. The first one was bad enough.

After dinner, she was informed by Darcy that her surprise party was that evening, and she had better attend, or else. Maria knew Darcy couldn't exactly do anything to her, but decided to go any way. What harm could it do?

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Maria wasn't quite sure how she ended up sitting in a circle in one of the guest rooms in the Avengers tower with Pepper, Darcy, Jane, Betty and Natasha participating in a slumber party, but she was.

All that she knew was that she completely blamed Phil for it, it was his fault she had to manage the Avengers, so it was his fault that she had been in the tower when Steve had gotten possessed, and had so been incapacitated for long enough to make her so busy that Darcy was able to get her to sign a legally binding contract agreeing to this madness by hiding in amongst her other paper work, right after she'd been given the good drugs.

She knew Phil was busy with his new team, but she still didn't see why he couldn't just have gone back to baby sitting his old one as well, especially now they knew he was alive. She also knew that truth or dare definitely wasn't a good idea. This thought was cemented when the bottle landed on her, after having been spun by a certain slightly tipsy assassin.

"Truth or dare?" The deadly red head said, fixing her with a glare which she knew meant she getting asked questions whether she liked it or not. It was her first time, despite them having being at it for almost two hours.

"Truth, but only if we make a rule that what is classified, stays classified," Maria responded, giving the only acceptable answer. True to form, the others gathered into a huddle, all enjoying themselves (though it had taken a bottle of strong Russian vodka for Natasha to do so - seriously strong), as they discussed what they would ask her. She heard the name Steve mentioned several times, as well as the words masquerade and mystery. After what seemed like forever, but which was really only a couple of minutes, they turned around, mischievous, malicious grins on all of their faces.

"Are you the mystery woman that Steve has been going on about from the masquerade ball last month?"

She knew she should have been expecting it, they had all had their suspicions, but she was still a little stunned. She knew they had all heard about the lady in blue, white and red who Steve had kissed at the ball, he hadn't shut up about her, describing everything from the colour of her hair (raven), to the callouses on her hands (rough but soft), to the way her lips had felt against his. Luckily for her, it had been too dark, and they had been wearing masks, so he hadn't recognised her, but she had recognised him. She had wanted to kiss him for so long, but had never had the courage to do anything about it until then.

She looked around at all of the expectant faces around her, then felt something prick her arm. Looking down, she saw Natasha, a large needle in hand, an almost apologetic look on her face.

"Sodium Pentothal. We knew you would only deny it, so we brought it just in case. I ask again, are you the mystery woman from the masquerade that Steve won't shut up about?" She tried to think of some way to deflect their attention before the drug completely took over, but it was a vain effort.

"Yes, I am, but please don't tell him or the others. Its bad enough being the Ice Princess, but if they found out that it was me, well..." She trailed off as she looked at them. Jane, Betty and Pepper had guilty looks on her face. Natasha looked smug, as an annoyed Darcy handed her some money. Then she realised why they looked guilty. "Did you bug the room?" They looked at their laps guiltily, "please tell me its not a live connection?"

"Yep, with all of the others on the other end, listening. Including Steve." Darcy said smugly, trying, and failing, not to laugh at the horror stricken expression on Maria's face. Maria could feel her face burn. She had to get out of there. She got up quickly, running out of the door, seconds before the tears which had been burning at the back of her eyes began to fall. She ran into the bathroom off the lounge, ignoring the men who were clustered around the TV as they gawked as she rushed past. She sat there sobbing. She didn't know why, it was so unlike her. All that she knew was that the tears kept on falling, as her heart broke into pieces.

CAPTAINHILLCAPTAINHILLCAPTAINHILLCAPTAINHILLCAPTAINHILLCAPTAINHILL

Steve was sat on a sofa in the so called Avengers living room along with Bruce, Clint, Tony and Ian. They were all listening to the sounds coming from the receiver on the table, the one connected to the recently activated bug in the girls room. They were about to find out whether Mari-Agent Hill - she wasn't Maria to him again, not since the incident, he hadn't gained that right back yet - was the woman he kissed.

He couldn't help but hope it was, oh how he wished it was. When he kissed that woman, all he could think about was Agent Hill, imagining it was her he held in his arms. When no-one had known who it was, he had let himself dream it was her. He kept talking about the woman, though he wasn't talking about the girl any more, he had been talking about Hill. Unless they were the same, as he hoped, but he wouldn't know for a minute. Then the bickering coming from the receiver ended, and he snapped back to reality.

"Are you the mystery woman that Steve has been going on about from the masquerade ball last month?" He heard Romanoff ask. He felt his palms start to go clammy. Why didn't Hill respond, why didn't she answer. The silence seemed to stretch into minutes, hours, an eternity. Then, there was a small gasp of surprise from the receiver. Hill. So they had decided to use the Sodium Pentothal after all. He felt bad about that, he didn't want her hurt, he cared about her too much for that, but he wanted to know so badly.

"Sodium Pentothal. We knew you would deny it, so we brought it just in case. I ask again, are you the mystery woman from the ball Steve won't shut up about?" He held his breath, as did all of the other men, even though they knew she couldn't hear them. She responded quite quickly this time.

"Yes, I am, but please don't tell Steve or the others. Its bad enough being the Ice Princess, but if they found out it was me, well..." Her voice tailed off. He was vaguely aware of Tony cussing and handing money to a very smug Clint, with Bruce and Ian soon following. All he could think was Maria. It was Maria he had kissed, not some stranger, or anyone else, it had been Maria. Maria he held in his arms as they danced, her lips he has pressed his against. Her who had pulled away from him. He grimaced at the last thought slightly, but was drawn back to the receiver by the sound of her voice. "Did you bug the room? Please tell me its not a live connection?" The desperation and hurt in her voice was like a dagger to the heart. He never wanted her to get hurt.

"Yep, with all of the others on the other end. Including Steve." He had a sudden urge to go and punch Darcy for being so cruel to Maria when she was so obviously hurting. Then he heard a door slam from the receiver, identical to a sound echoed in the distance. He could here feet running towards them, and he turned, just in time to see Maria run through the lounge, tears streaming down her face, before she locked herself in the loo. Everyone was stunned, no one speaking for a moment, until...

"I never thought I'd see the day the Ice Princess cried" Tony remarked. Steve lost it then. He turned around, and punched him in the face, before wheeling around and going to the door to the bathroom. He could hear her sobbing inside, and his heart broke. He raised his hand and knocked.


End file.
